Time Tracker

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

"Knowledge can be a dangerous thing, Ms. Stone," He said taking her hand and they began walking on the sidewalk down the street towards her car. a They walked holding hands."Sometimes it's best to...what's the expression...that ignorance being like bliss?"

They came up to one of this era's uniformed peacekeepers and Bennett waited silently as she spoke with him about the two suspects that had attacked congressman Henney. Finally officer patted the top of the vehicle and motioned them on their way.

Sam directed the car away from the hotel. Once they got a few streets between them and it Sam asked, “How the hell did you get out of my handcuffs anyways, Kraft?"

"You should be glad I did, Ms. Stone."

"I’m grateful you did," She admitted, "But now I’m curious.”

"I should probably give you back these, though they are pretty useless at their supposed function now." He reached into his jacket pocket and held out for her handcuffs-what remained of them. They were bent and broken now. Fortunately while Hex was offline the nanomolecular circuitry fibers in his muscles seemed to work upgrading his strength and stamina, he could only hope he had some nanomeds still functioning in his blood, or else he was probably breathing in his death in germs right now. He added after she looked at the steel scraps that use to be her wrist restraints, "I'm alot stronger than most would credit me, Sam."

He put them in his lap saying, "Now it's my turn for a question. What did Henney tell you before I arrived?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

He waited until they had driven off before he spoke.


"I should probably give you back these, though they are pretty useless at their supposed function now."

Taking her eyes off the road for a brief moment, she glanced in his direction and found him holding up her handcuffs, now nothing more than twisted, mangled scraps of metal.

"I'm alot stronger than most would credit me, Sam."

Her brow arched slightly as her eyes returned to peer out of the windshield as she drove.

“Apparently so, Bennett. Listen, while we’re at it, I should thank you for coming to my rescue with Henney back there. Maybe I should have listened to you more carefully when you said he was dangerous. So, thank you.”

From the corner of her eye she saw Bennett drop what use to resemble handcuffs into his lap. How the bloody hell or rather what the hell had he done to her cuffs? Was that type of mutilation even possible? Then she recalled her conversation with Henney or rather his conversation with her since it had been distinctly one-sided. His. She was still trying to wrap her head around that information when Kraft dropped his own bombshell of a question.

"Now it's my turn for a question. What did Henney tell you before I arrived?"

Her mind scurried to stall him.

“Look, could we have this discussion much later? Right now, we have to lay low. Get out of town. I’ve got to place that phone call to my superior and get packed. I’ve got to lock up my house, gas up the car and we have a long drive ahead of us. Unless this is a life or death thing, can we table this conversation about Henney for now, please?”

Sam was still shaken up over the whole ordeal. Oh, not so much what Henney put her through, but there was that, but it was the information he had so arrogantly let drop to her. Was Henney so deranged, so far removed from reality that he lived in his own built reality or…….

Given what she had heard thus far, given everything she had experienced with Kraft, as unreal as it seemed, Sam had to at least give some sort of credence to the idea that Kraft and Henney came from the future. Crazy as that sounded. If Kraft had questions for her, she had a few of her own for him.

The trip back to her house was done in record time. Sam went immediately to the phone and punched out her boss’ number and spoke quietly with him. Luckily her boss bought into the whole something has cropped up in her personal life that required some personal time off. Her cases would be handed over to Hendricks for the duration of her absence. Once off the phone, she went to hunt down Bennett.

“Look, do we need to stop somewhere and get you some clothes? Or do you guys from the future just have a way of pulling stuff out of thin air or something?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew what she had done. Shit. Way to go, Samantha. Way to go.

“Um, I better go pack so we can get out of here.”

She hurried off to her bedroom, pulling a rucksack from her closet. Sam started opening and closing dresser drawers, taking things out, shoving them into the rucksack. Maybe Kraft was just going to let it go for now. She hoped so. They needed a head start on Henney. She’d be a fool to think that Henney was going to let either of them live, let alone get away with what had happened to him. Sam imagined that Henney was going to be madder than a wet hen when he woke up from his little nap, but ever the consummate politician. She shifted to the closet, shoving the clothes hanging there to one side. Nimble fingers went to the wall safe and started turning the lock. The door popped open slightly when the last tumbler set into place. Sam withdrew a Beretta Sub-compact from the wall safe, loaded it, replaced it in the clip holster that would snug against her back. She withdrew another Beretta Px4 Storm from the safe, only this one was full size, 9mm. It too was loaded and put back in its holster and laid on the dresser top. She shut the wall safe and gave it a quick spin before she set her hanging clothes back in place. Going through them ad withdrawing a pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt and bending over, she flipped through the shoes on the floor looking for her boots.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

"Now it's my turn for a question. What did Henney tell you before I arrived?"

Kraft could tell she was dealing with something, trying to figure it out, but she said, “Look, could we have this discussion much later?"

He perked an eyebrow, "When?"

"Right now, we have to lay low. Get out of town. I’ve got to place that phone call to my superior and get packed. I’ve got to lock up my house, gas up the car and we have a long drive ahead of us," She said stopping at a traffic light, "Unless this is a life or death thing, can we table this conversation about Henney for now, please?”

She was scared, terrified, with good reason to be, but she was also confused, shaken. How much did Henney tell her? And how much did Sam actually beleive? But he nodded, "Alright later then."

He let her drive the vehicle back to her housing unit in silence wondering just how much damage Henney had inflicted on her, and her future. He followed after her inside. The sofa she had handcuffed him to now had a broken arm.

"Sorry about that," He told her gesturing to it.

She ignored him and proceded to her primitive communication device and called her peacekeeper's headquarters and arranged for her-how did she put it-'to lay low'.

“Look, do we need to stop somewhere and get you some clothes," she asked putting the communicator back down, "Or do you guys from the future just have a way of pulling stuff out of thin air or something?"

Bennett stopped and looked up at her. Well, she had answered his question.

Before he could respond she quickly left saying, “Um, I better go pack so we can get out of here.” She hurried off to her bedroom.

Bennett waited a moment getting his thoughts in order before walking down the hallway to Sam's bedroom. He stopped in the doorway. "Sam, I'm sorry," He said softly to her, "I tried to protect you from it, but the damage is done now. If you have any questions for me I will try to answer them the best I can."

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"Sam, I'm sorry, I tried to protect you from it, but the damage is done now. If you have any questions for me I will try to answer them the best I can."

Her hands stilled on the boots that were resting on her closet floor. It was funny how quick he took to calling her Sam instead of something more formal. Inhale. Exhale. Pick up the boots. Sam straightened, turned and walked over the bed sitting down on the edge before she even glanced over at Bennett. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say to him. His voice was soft and she thought she caught a hint of regret.

“Bennett, I---“

They didn’t have time for this. The sooner they started flying under Henney’s radar the better. If he was as dangerous as Bennett said he was and she had no reason now not to believe him, having gotten a small dose of Henney personally, she didn’t want to underestimate him. She let the boots fall to the floor with a soft thud.

“Can we talk about you, about Henney, about what the hell we’re going to do next, later? My parents own a fishing cabin up in the woods. I’d like to get there before dark fall if that’s all right with you? Right now, I need to change my clothes. Would you mind taking this other pack and filling it with food from the cupboards?” She pointed to a backpack at the end of her bed.

“I’ve got some cash stashed for a rainy day and I guess this is that day. We’ll pick up other stuff as we need it.”

She started to reach for the pair of jeans lying beside her.

“Bennett? He is going to come after us, isn’t he? He wants you dead and he wants to toy with me before he kills me. I saw it in his eyes earlier.”

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

"Sam, I'm sorry," He said softly to her, "I tried to protect you from it, but the damage is done now. If you have any questions for me I will try to answer them the best I can."

He shook his head as she stopped packing her things and sat on the bed. She looked at him clearly unsure what to say, what to do.

“Bennett, I---“ She started but then trailed off. “Can we talk about you, about Henney, about what the hell we’re going to do next, later?"

He nodded, "I understand, Sam. It can wait." He glanced over to her half-packed luggage. "Where do you plan to go?"

"My parents own a fishing cabin up in the woods. I’d like to get there before dark fall if that’s all right with you?"

"Sounds good, if Henney's implant is functioning the further away from cameras and computers the better for us," He agreed.

"Right now, I need to change my clothes," She said rising from the bed and pointing to a bag at the end of the bed, "Would you mind taking this other pack and filling it with food from the cupboards?”

"Certainly," Bennett said stepping over to the bed and picking the green bag.

“I’ve got some cash stashed for a rainy day and I guess this is that day. We’ll pick up other stuff as we need it.”

"Hard currency," Bennett stated, "No credit or electronic money transfers. Nothing he can track with his implant. We need to get you safely out of Henney's reach."

“Bennett? He is going to come after us, isn’t he?"

He stopped and nodded, "He almost certainly will."

"He wants you dead and he wants to toy with me before he kills me. I saw it in his eyes earlier.”

He only nodded to her, "I will do my best to protect you from him, Sam. But if his implant is working I honestly don't know how much of a chance we will have if he wants to kill or harm either of us."

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Bennett left, taking the bag with him, Sam could hear in the kitchen opening cupboards.

Implant?

Just one more thing for them to talk about. With a slight shake of her head, as if to clear it, she started to change out of what she was wearing into something more comfortable and durable for traveling. Jeans. A sweater. Boots. Sensible ones. Not the kind that had a ridiculously high heel, the kind that was more show than functionality. Having her hair around her shoulders made Sam feel messy. A few strokes of her hair brush and she had it pinned back into a pony tail. She slipped one gun into her shoulder holster and the other, she clipped to the back waistband of her jeans. Her sweater hid it from sight. Shouldering her back pack, Sam headed for the other room. Setting her pack by the front door, she turned to watch Bennett. He wasn’t what she would call classically handsome. A bit on the rugged side. Lean. There was an air about him. How he carried himself, that drew her in. She was far more curious now, especially after the little bombshell Henney had dropped in her ear. Sam still wasn’t sure if those two, Kraft and Henney, weren’t just a pair of escapees from the looney bin or if, as fantastic and unbelievable it may be, they really were from the future. How was that even possible?

Bennett was securing the food pack when she entered. Sam leaned down to open the cupboard doors under the sink and drew out a box of rat poison, setting it on the counter before she peeled back the top, her fingers fishing into the interior. Moments later, she hauled out a wad of bills, tossed the open box into the trash, divided up the bills and stuffing half in one front pocket and the remainder in the other front pocket. She glanced up at Kraft.

“Ready? Let’s get out of here.”

Striding back to her pack, she shouldered it again, locked the front door and stepped outside, leaving Bennett to close the door and follow. Sam tossed her pack in the backseat and got behind the steering wheel. A quick glance at the gas gauge and a bit of mental calculation, informed her that they could easily get out of the city before she needed to stop again. The key was put into the ignition, car started, seat belt snapped into place and she waited for Bennett to join her. She turned her head in his direction after he settled into the car.

“We have about an eight hour drive, Kraft. Why don’t you amuse me and try convincing me that you and Henney are from the future and not escapees from an out of town mental institution? Because frankly? I’m having a hard time swallowing all this future crap.”

Sam pulled the car out of the driveway and smoothly drove them out of town.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

He only nodded to her, "I will do my best to protect you from him, Sam. But if his implant is working I honestly don't know how much of a chance we will have if he wants to kill or harm either of us."

He left then taking the satchel to the kitchen to fill it with food. He opened one of the cabinets and frowned at the rows of metal cylindars. Where was the nutritional supplement tablets? Looking closely at the labels he discovered the cylindars held food within them. That was right this was before the worldwide food crisis in the late twenty-first or maybe the early twenty-second century. There weren't government rationing on foodstuffs. Sam was incredibly lucky to have so much just sitting on the shelves. He knew families that saved for a month to get the same amount of actual food as in this can of spaghetti. There were Beans, Corn, Tomato sauce, and peas. A treasure.

He began putting them in the bag when Sam came and knelt beside reaching for a box under the sink. Bennett only saw it in his perepheral vision but he clearly saw the word "Poison" on the box and he jumped up with an exclamation jerking his head around to see her pulling out a roll of paper bills...money...they still used actual paper money in this time instead of relying on credit accounts alone.

There was so much in this time to get used to.

Apparently not noticing his reaction Sam turned to him and asked, “Ready?"

He nodded hefting the satchel filled with canned food over his shoulder.

"Let’s get out of here.”

They left her apartment and climbed back into her vehicle.

"How far away is this cabin of your parent's," He asked as they pulled out onto the road.

“We have about an eight hour drive, Kraft." She told him, "Why don’t you amuse me and try convincing me that you and Henney are from the future and not escapees from an out of town mental institution? Because frankly? I’m having a hard time swallowing all this future crap.”

"What do you want me to say," He asked, "I come from roughly four hundred years in the future. I am a peacekeeper...what you would call a policeman. It's a very different time than it is here in yours. Violent crime is all but a thing of the past. Killers like Henney are the rare exception, and even that is because of a treatable neural imbalance he has." They pulled up to a traffic light and Bennett ran a hand through his hair. It had been a hard day.

He looked over to her as she set the vehicle back into motion. "It isn't like your era here, Sam. It's a good time. We have peace and prosperity for the majority of the population and have turned things around from the centuries of damage done to the environment and the catastrophe that ended the fourth world war. We still have crime though you'd laugh at how small the percentage is. We don't lock offenders away for the rest of their lives either, and we certainly don't execute them like blood-thirsty barbarians. Instead we try to treat them, rehabiltate them."

"We kept the most resistant to rehabilition in one location. A week before I came to this time there was an explosion and four hundred of the inmates and their caretakers were caught in it. Only upon investigation we found the explosion had been deliberate, and that several of the inmates were able to escape the rehab center. I don't know how but they found out about a research lab trying to develop temporal matter teleportation technology...what you'd call time travel. Now there's up to twenty-six or more fugitives hiding in your time era," He looked down at his hands. The enormity of his task weighing upon him. "Your encounter with Henney should have demonstrated the damage they can do to your time, and the damage they can do to my era's history is staggering. So it was decided to send one man to find them and figure out some way to limit the damage to the timeline. I volunteered for it."

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Sam shot him a startled look before her eyes turned back to in front of her.

“Twenty-six or more? Are they all as dangerous as Henney? And how could you people let this happen? Weren’t there any safeguards set in place for such circumstances?”

She shot the questions at him as she started to drive more cautiously. Snow was beginning to fall the further north they climbed. They had driven in silence for the most part with occasional bursts of conversation. They made one stop for gas. Sam ordered burgers and fries to go from the small community that was the closest to her parents’ cabin. They had just gotten back in the car with the food, her hand on the ignition key when she thought of something.

“Bennett? Does Henney have any kind of a device that would make it easy for him to track us down? Because I’d really like to know that now instead of later. “

She put the car into gear again and they drove out of town, about 10 miles outside of town, she made a left turn down a dirt road. The way the snow was coming down, their tire tracks would soon be covered up. The going was a little rough. It wasn’t a road anyone considered keeping up. In fact, she was pretty sure her parents had left it neglected to discourage people from coming down it. Samantha eased through the potholes. The rugged terrain of the road made the car bounce in places. Another thirty minutes and they were pulling up in front of a dark log cabin. Sam switched off the car, removing her keys and reaching for her purse.

“Well, this is it. At least you’ll have a bed to sleep in tonight.”

Sam tried to keep her tone light but inside, she was livid. She didn’t like having to run and hide. It went against every fiber of her being. She had dealt with people like Henney before. The only thing that made Henney more dangerous was the fact that he was from four hundred years in the future, if he and Bennett were to be believed. There was no telling what the world had evolved into betwixt here and there. She got out of the car, shutting the door and looked at him over the roof as if something just dawned on her.

“Bennett? They sent only one man into the past to deal with twenty-six or so fugitives from the future? If they’re anything like Henney, even remotely, that’s a suicide mission.”

She moved around to the trunk of the car, opening it with the remote so she could root out her backpack. Her fingers grazed the pack with their food stuffs. Hauling it out of the trunk, she held it out to Kraft.

“Would you take this, please? I’ll grab mine. Here’s the keys to the house. Go ahead and open the door. I’ll just lock up the car and join you shortly.”

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

“Twenty-six or more," She said startled.

"According to our best estimates." Snow was beginning to fall and idly Bennett wondered if it tasted the same as it did in the future. Probably not what with all the air polution in this era. Pity.

"Are they all as dangerous as Henney?"

"Some," He answered, "Alot of them though were what you'd call political prisoners...it's their ideology that makes them dangerous."

"And how could you people let this happen," She asked, "Weren’t there any safeguards set in place for such circumstances?”

"There were numerous safegaurds in place, and they all got circumvented," He said a little defensively, "These weren't the everyday criminals you have filling your prisons in this time, Sam, all twenty-six were incurable, unrepentant, convinced of their superiority. The absolute worst my time has to offer world wide. Psychopaths like Henney, power-mad dictators, unethical doctors that performed procedures that would make even-----oh what's his name---the nazi doctor in the concentration camps---Anyway it would make even him balk at what they did. And one or two were certainly smart enough and resourceful enough to plan the explosion at the rehabilitation center."

They pulled into the smallest town Bennett had ever seen. A single street lined with buildings barely more than a block long. Sam refueled the vehicle and bought food at the refueling station at the center of the strip of town.

Once done they got back into the vehicle and Sam asked, “Bennett? Does Henney have any kind of a device that would make it easy for him to track us down? Because I’d really like to know that now instead of later. “

He nodded, "His Implant. Everyone in my time has them inplanted inside their skull at birth to help them communicate, learn, and access the datanet...they function much the same way as the cellphones you have now, only far more advanced. The danger isn't that, but in comparison there's nothing you have that could even hope to keep him out. If its hooked into your primitive datanet then it will work for him. No firewalls, no security system, nothing you have in this time will be able to stop his implant from plowing right through them with ease. If he wants to track us he could use anything with a camera and connected to your datanet to do it. And its not just him, Implants are ubiquitious in my time, all twenty-six or more of the fugitives have them."

They left town and turned off to an unpaved road, a cloud of dust following them as Sam maneuvered the vehicle deeper into the forest....an actual forest. Despite himself Bennett stared out the window with wonder like a ten year old at all the trees as they breezed by. In his time there were a few scattered pockets of wilderness in the world, but nothing like this. This redefined wilderness for him.

“Well, this is it." Sam pulled finally to a clearing and a small primitively rustic little house. Bennett peered more closely at the house, even got out and put a disbelieving hand on the side of it. It was made of logs...from trees cut down for nothing more than to build the side of a house. In the future trees were an endangered and jealously protected resource. He would have had to arrest anyone who wasted so many of them for something like this.

"At least you’ll have a bed to sleep in tonight.” She said rising out of the pilot's side of the vehicle.

He began to notice in her voice a tone of...of what....anger...frustration...no, irritation-that was it. He nodded stepping back towards her trying to give a friendly smile. Poor, woman, she'd just been told that a psycopathic murderer could turn the whole world against her. "I'd appreciate that, and this place is probably the safest place we could get to from him. I doubt there's anything with a datanet connection here. We'll lay low and try to work out ways on how to remove Henney from where he could-"

“Bennett," She asked interrupting him, "They sent only one man into the past to deal with twenty-six or so fugitives from the future?"

He shook his head, "We couldn't risk any more contamination of the timeline. You have to understand as dangerous as they are what we, them and I, know of your future the future of the world, can be catastrophic to my time period. I was sent to stop them from hurting the people here, yes, but more to prevent them from damaging the course of your future but my history, and even I pose a threat to that. Sending a team of us was too risky, not to mention they have no idea on how to pull us back....they told me they would work on it and to return to the road you ran into me on at the same time every year if they ever figured out how, but..." He looked down at his hands on the roof of the vehicle. He could see his reflection in the glass window of it. "...But I pretty much have little hope for that. I knew going in this was probably a one-way trip."

"If they’re anything like Henney, even remotely, that’s a suicide mission.”

"Suicide," He looked up to her, and nodded. "You're probably right, Sam. I was hoping I could use the element of surprise to give me a chance of success, but that's no longer an option now." He closed his eyes, "And there's the fact that when Henney was unconscious I couldn't do it. Remember they don't know how to pull people back, and I couldn't kill him. He can hurt more women, you, contaminate the timeline even more than he has now, because I couldn't do what I was sent back to do."

"I don't want to die, more to the point I don't want to die and fail. The stakes are just too high....I can't risk failure. I think I need to think about how to proceed on my mission here."

She walked over to the back of the vehicle and opened the cargo compartment, handing him the bag of canned food. "“Would you take this, please? I’ll grab mine."

He hefted the heavy bag easily on his shoulder. She handed him the keys and and he looked down a little confused at the metal instruments. He had seen her use one of these to activate the vehicle. It took him a moment to find the right one and he pushed open the door. The cabin as she put it was a small building. Along one wall was a kitchenette, and a little table and chairs. Along the opposite wall was a small sofa a couple wooden chairs, an honest to god fireplace revolving around a bearskin rug on the floor, and behind it were two doors. One of the doors were to a tiny restroom, and the other was a cramped bedroom with two beds and a dresser. That was all there was to the building.

He began unpacking the canned food into the cabinets of the kitchenette waiting for Sam to come inside. He kept glancing out the window to the veiw of trees and past them a babbling creek. From the window he could also see her, a breeze blowing her fiery hair. Maybe being stuck in the past with someone who literally ran into him wasn't so bad afterall.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"There were numerous safegaurds in place, and they all got circumvented. These weren't the everyday criminals you have filling your prisons in this time, Sam, all twenty-six were incurable, unrepentant, convinced of their superiority. The absolute worst my time has to offer world wide. Psychopaths like Henney, power-mad dictators, unethical doctors that performed procedures that would make even-----oh what's his name---the nazi doctor in the concentration camps---Anyway it would make even him balk at what they did. And one or two were certainly smart enough and resourceful enough to plan the explosion at the rehabilitation center."

Mengele. That was the Nazi doctor he referred to. Josef Rudolf Mengele. The Angel of Death. The sick bastard who used camp inmates, adults and children alike, for human experiments. Men like that turned Sam’s stomach.

She pulled her backpack from the trunk of the car and closed it before she leaned against the car, thinking. Talking with men like Bennett and yes, even Henney, left her mind more confused than ever. She couldn’t believe she was leaning toward taking their words as realistic instead of thinking of them as a pair of loonies who had escaped the bin. Was it really possible? Four hundred years from now. Her brain hurt just thinking about it, timelines and history. She prided herself on being able to think outside the box but this reminded her of those late night drunken college conversations she use to have with friends, only this wasn’t about theory. She was actually living this.

Sam glanced up at the mottled gray sky with a sigh. Small delicate snowflakes fell on her eye lashes and her face. On impulse, she stuck out her tongue and let the snow melt there. If it kept snowing like this, there was going to be a few inches come morning. Her parents kept split wood on the back porch for the fireplace. She might as well go in and get a fire started. At least they had burgers and fries for tonight’s meal, which was a good thing because she didn’t feel like cooking tonight. Depending on the snow fall tonight, she’d run back into town for a few more things in the morning. Reaching down she hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and made her way into the cabin, pausing to stomp her feet at the door before she went in.

Just inside the cabin, she set down her pack and took off her coat to hang It on a hook behind the door. Sam took the bag with the burger and fries into the small kitchen. Pulling out a couple of plates from a cupboard, she glanced at Kraft.

“Bennett? Would you mind bringing in some wood from the back porch? I’ll get us a fire started as soon as I dish up this food. The door’s over there,” she stopped what she was doing to point to the door on one of the kitchen walls. “Wood’s just outside to your left.”

She left the kitchen to snatch up her backpack and haul it into the bedroom, dropping her backpack on one of the beds before she returned to the kitchen and took up the bag with their food along with the plates to the small dining table her parents had. She set food on each plate before retrieving two glasses, pausing to fill them with cold water from the tap and setting them just above the food laden plates. A quick glance around and she found a box of matches and had just turned the damper open and stuffed newspaper under the grate and piled it with kindling. She struck a match, setting it to the crumpled paper under the grate before sitting back on her heels and watched the flames grow and the thin pieces of wood catch fire and pop. She waited for Bennett to return before she asked.

“If they have these implants in their skulls, then that means you have one too. So, that would mean you could access this datanet you speak of, but my question to you is, can Henney track you using it?”

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

Sam soon entered the cabin the last of their bags hanging over her shoulder.

He glanced outside. Weather was coming in between the mountain peaks and snow fall was getting thicker out there. A chilly wind was blowing from the head of the valley. "It looks like we may get snowed in here Sam."

“Bennett? Would you mind bringing in some wood from the back porch? I’ll get us a fire started as soon as I dish up this food. The door’s over there,” She replied pointing to a door on the back kitchen wall, he had assumed led to a pantry area.

"Certainly," He nodded striding over to it and opening the door in question.

When he stepped outside and looked right and left she added, “Wood’s just outside to your left.”

His eyes locked on a wooden box with a hinged top the word: "firewood" carved on it.

"Firewood?" He thought freezing with his hands over it. They were going to burn this wood on purpose? He knew enough that with the weather looking like it was turning more and more frigid they would need to do this for warmth, but...but in his time...this was a horrendous waste of a preciously rare resource. They'd both be arrested and there wasn't a jury in his era that wouldn't convict them straight to the Quarterstone Rehab Center for this and Bennett wouldn't have blamed them for it-that is if Quarterstone wasn't a burnt down pile of rubble since Henney and the other twenty-six fugitives escaped.

Not knowing how much to bring in he collected as much as he could carry and came back inside. He carefully lined the lengths of chopped wood beside the fireplace.

“If they have these implants in their skulls, then that means you have one too," She asked him out of the blue.

"In my time everyone gets them, Sam."

"So, that would mean you could access this datanet you speak of, but my question to you is, can Henney track you using it?”

"Yes he could, but I could track him too, even block him from doing anything to other programs or what you call websights," He shook his head at her, "But ever since I came to this time, Hex-my implant, has been offline. A couple of the experts thought exposure to the temporal dislocation field would disrupt it but had no way of protecting it from that."

He shrugged looking up at her from beside the fireplace, "Probably affected Henney and the others the same way when they first came here too, but we can't take the chance theirs hasn't rebooted since."

He rose and stepped over to her, "When I tried to access it after coming here, it caused a sharp pain in the back of my head, but now the pain is gone, there's just no response."

He sat down at the kitchen table looking at what she called a hamburger...cooked ground up Cow meat...he wasn't sure about how he felt eating an extinct animal. "I've had Hex my whole life, Sam, being without it is taking alot of adjustment for me. It's like learning to walk on one leg."

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Bennett brought in the wood and piled the pieces beside the fireplace for her. When she was able, she snagged a piece and set it on top of the burning kindling before reaching for another piece and added it to the small pile in the fireplace. She sat back on her heels again and watched the flames dance for a moment.

"When I tried to access it after coming here, it caused a sharp pain in the back of my head, but now the pain is gone, there's just no response."

Sam glanced his way as he stepped by her and sat down at the small kitchen table, staring at his burger. The look on his face made her wonder what they ate in the future. She scrambled to her feet, dusted off her jeans and joined him, taking the seat across from him.

"I've had Hex my whole life, Sam, being without it is taking alot of adjustment for me. It's like learning to walk on one leg."

She plucked a french fry off her plate and nibbled on it then used the rest of it to gesture toward his plate.

“Not hungry, Bennett? Or do we eat differently in the future?”

She polished off the fry before picking up her burger and bit into it with relish. She was starving. Sam chewed and swallowed.

“Curious thing, isn’t it, Bennett? How human beings, whether they’re from this time era or yours, seem to have to depend on technology for something. I suppose, we’re just going to have depend on something God gave us to get through this or until this Hex of yours comes back online.”

Sam went back to eating until she had polished off her burger and then sat back to idly pick at her fries. From time to time, she glanced out of the window and watched the snow fall. Henney had pulled things out of her purse, examining them. What if his implant was still functional? Was there anything in her purse he could have scanned? Her brain was furiously working overtime to remember.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

He sat down at the kitchen table looking at what she called a hamburger...cooked ground up Cow meat...he wasn't sure about how he felt eating an extinct animal. "I've had Hex my whole life, Sam, being without it is taking alot of adjustment for me. It's like learning to walk on one leg."

She pointed a half-eaten french fry at his plate. “Not hungry, Bennett," She asked him, "Or do we eat differently in the future?”

Bennett looked down and lifted up the hamburger. "Cows are an extinct animal in my time, and we don't eat so much fatty fried foods as you do in this time. Instead we eat alot of processed, synthetic, nutritiously balanced food packets. But I have no real objection to trying this out." He raised the burger to his mouth and experimentally took a bite. "It's not bad, Sam. Just not what I'm used to."

“Curious thing, isn’t it, Bennett," Sam asked eating her french fry, "How human beings, whether they’re from this time era or yours, seem to have to depend on technology for something."

He nodded taking a french fry and dipping it into some of the red tomato sauce she had called ketchup and trying a bite of it too. "I'm just going to have to get used to eating the food of this era, even though I can clearly taste how greasy both this fry and the burger were. I can feel my arteries clogging even as I speak, Sam." He took a larger bite of the burger, "Still they taste good, and I'm just going to have to get over it, really. Afterall I'm not going to have any of the nutrition packets that were invented to battle the worldwide food crisis two hundred years later from this point in history."

"I suppose, we’re just going to have depend on something God gave us to get through this or until this Hex of yours comes back online.”

"If it comes back online," He told her lifting the-what did Sam call it-the Doctor Pepper was it (Maybe it was named after an actual 'Dr. Pepper' that invented it) to his lips to drink, "I have no way of knowing how badly damaged the exposure to the temporal displacement field caused it. I have no real way of even repairing it since nanotechnology won't be invented for another three hundred and fifty years."

He shrugged putting the coyingly sweet Doctor Pepper down on the table, "But you're right we have to just rely on the resources we have rather than trying to waste time and effort complaining about the resources we don't."

A thought suddenly came to him, "Sam, did Henney get a hold of your cellphone back at the hotel?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Sam pushed her plate away from her and sat back in her chair. This talk of Henney had reminded her of her ordeal with the lunatic which, in turn, doused her appetite.

“We don’t always eat fatty fried foods here, Bennett. Granted, our diets could be a lot better but Synthetics? Processed? Tell me, do you people in the future enjoy eating at all? Is there any kind of pleasure in it? Take me for example. I tend to cook my own food. I choose lean meats, mostly poultry, lean beef or fish with lots of fresh vegetables.”

Sam leaned forward to pick up her own drink. She didn’t care for the sugary sort. She usually leaned toward tea but in this case, she wanted something carbonated and with more caffeine than usual. They had both fallen silent, each confined to their own thoughts for the time being. She wasn’t so sure it would be a good idea to admit to having a wireless modem here in the cabin. What if Henney could trace their connection and find out not only what they were accessing but also be able to trace the connection to the very public domain of the internet?

"Sam, did Henney get a hold of your cellphone back at the hotel?"

Samantha looked at him blankly for a moment or two. Had he? Her mind tripped over itself to think back. Her eyes widened.

“Son of a bitch.” She swore softly, “Bennett. He went through my purse. Henney was tossing things out right and left. My cell phone was in my purse. He had his back to me for a few seconds. Do you think he had his implant scan my phone? Is that possible? And what does that mean?”

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

“We don’t always eat fatty fried foods here, Bennett. Granted, our diets could be a lot better but Synthetics? Processed," She asked pushing her plate back clearly the talk of the man that had come close to murdering her had affected her appetite. "Tell me, do you people in the future enjoy eating at all? Is there any kind of pleasure in it? Take me for example. I tend to cook my own food. I choose lean meats, mostly poultry, lean beef or fish with lots of fresh vegetables."

"Pleasure," He asked putting the burger down and lifting the cup of Doctor Pepper for a drink, "We eat the food packets for nourishment everyday, and they taste-well nothing like natural food. They taste synthetic, even though the companies that make them do their best to simulate pleasant tastes and textures, but people can always tell the difference between them and natural food. On special occasions we spend a good deal of credits on actual food. Synthetics are still consumed every day, you understand. The price for natural food is just too high. The agricultural reserves around the world would never be able to support the twenty trillion population of the earth. And the monumental demand for it drives up the price. I have experimented with putting a little...say a sliced cucumber or carrot with the food packets for thanksgiving...pretty much all I could ever hope to afford on a peacekeeper's salary."

He took a sip of the Doctor Pepper and winced again at the sweetness, maybe it was an aqcuired taste. Putting it down, "The worldwide food shortage was a major crisis in the history of my time, Sam, with a brutal decades-long world war directly sparked because of it. Synthetic food was probably responsible for the salvation of humanity, certainly its unification under one government."
He took another bite of a fry and looked up at her. "These french fried potatoes would be a middle-class family's annual income. The burger and pretty much all meat would be out of the question since cow's are extinct, same with chickens and several varieties of seafood, By some miracle the pig is just hovering at the endangered species mark, but buying in order to cook one of them would cost us several million credits. And at the resturaunt I saw them dumping out soo much of it out back." He shook his head, "So in conclusion its not so much about healthy nutrition, I could tell you everyone is sick of that from the synthetics, but the scarcity of even unhealthy food."

She leaned back as Bennett continued experiencing the hedonistic journey that was a hamburger for him. alternately taking a sip of the doctor pepper that really was too sweet for him.

A thought suddenly came to him, "Sam, did Henney get a hold of your cellphone back at the hotel?"

She looked up at him blankly for a moment, “Son of a bitch. Bennett. He went through my purse. Henney was tossing things out right and left. My cell phone was in my purse. He had his back to me for a few seconds."

"He did," He nodded pursing his lips. This made things difficult.

"Do you think he had his implant scan my phone? Is that possible?"

"Yes, it is," He said sadly, "And it would've only taken his implant a split-second to clone your phone's software and to hack it, Sam."

" And what does that mean?”

"It means he can track us no matter where we go, if your phone is activated and can get a signal....I think the historian said there were areas in this time still outside of the data and communication net...Did you have the phone on at any time since we escaped Henney, and could you even get a signal if you did turn it on here at this cabin?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

The things he was telling her of future appalled her. She pushed away her plate, her meal only half eaten.

“Then perhaps the world needs to change. Think about it, Kraft. Things enjoyed in the here and now have become extinct or so damn close to it that unless a person is super wealthy? They can’t afford it. So, what did we do over time? We developed synthetics. That’s what you put into your bodies. Synthetics. Perhaps engineered healthy enough to meet bodily needs, but it isn’t real. It’s all fake. I’m glad I don’t live in your time. I’m glad I didn’t live to see what the world had become.”

Sam stared at her soda cup for the longest time, trying to absorb everything Bennett had told her. It damn near broke her heart. Where, as a people, had they gone wrong? Had they abused the land so much that nothing could grow in it? Had they lost respect for it? For what it provided? Apparently so. Bennett’s voice broke into her thoughts but all she caught was….

”….. Did you have the phone on at any time since we escaped Henney, and could you even get a signal if you did turn it on here at this cabin?"

Her phone. Where had she put her phone?

Wait. Calm down.

She knew for a fact there wasn’t a signal here and barely one in town. She looked across the table at him.

“I always have my phone on, Bennett. It’s just a habit of mine, even up here where there’s no signal. If you get really lucky, you might pick up one in town. A bar, maybe two on a really clear day.”

She got up from the table with a thoughtful look, gathering her plate and glass. Sam set them on the counter while she ran water into the sink. While the sink filled she turned the burner on under the tea kettle. Night was settling in and with it, the cold.

“Can you build a fire in the fireplace, please? I just want to do these dishes.”

Sam looked over her shoulder at Bennett.

“Or are you going to tell me they don't have fireplaces in the future because trees are extinct?”

She wasn’t trying for sarcastic but it sure came out that way, at least to her ears. With the kettle on, she returned to the sink and started to wash up the dishes. What were the chances that her phone had registered a single bar on her phone while they had been in town? Henney’s implant would have registered it right away. What if Henney was formulating plans even now? There was no doubt as to what he had planned for her if he got his hands on her again. Then again, by now it might be something worse. Henney was a twisted asshole. He’d enjoy just making her scream. What about Bennett? Henney wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. They needed a plan. Just in case.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

"It means he can track us no matter where we go, if your phone is activated and can get a signal....I think the historian said there were areas in this time still outside of the data and communication net...Did you have the phone on at any time since we escaped Henney, and could you even get a signal if you did turn it on here at this cabin?"

She looked around frantically for it for a moment but stilled herself and replied, “I always have my phone on, Bennett. It’s just a habit of mine, even up here where there’s no signal. If you get really lucky, you might pick up one in town. A bar, maybe two on a really clear day.”

He leaned back pursing his lips in thought. "It's really isolated up here. That dirt road is the only way to this cabin, right? So I don't think he knows where we are now, but it'll be safer if you leave the phone here when we go, Sam."

Bennett looked out the window snow was falling and just beginning to cover Sam's car. If it kept up like this there would be absolutely no way in or out of this remote little mountain valley except by the air. It was most likely the only place within reach they could expect to be safely out of Henney's clutches.

“Can you build a fire in the fireplace, please? I just want to do these dishes.”

He got up looking at the archaic fireplace. Was he really going to burn wood in that thing? The twenty-first century was a very different place. A criminal misdemeanor in his time was a casual occurrence easily overlooked here.

“Or are you going to tell me they don't have fireplaces in the future because trees are extinct?”

Bennett looked over his shoulder at her sardonic words, "Actually they are an endangered species and a rigorously protected resource." He raised a peice of a log and placed it into the fireplace. "However when in the twenty-first century do as the people from the twenty-first century do."

He looked up to her, "I may need help setting these on fire, Sam. I never have, and its not something I want to mess up through trial and error."

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Sam had partially filled the sink with warm sudsy water and slipped her dishes into it then gone back for his. She had just rinsed the last plate and was putting it in the rack when Bennett spoke up.

"Actually they are an endangered species and a rigorously protected resource. However when in the twenty-first century do as the people from the twenty-first century do."

She reached for a hanging dish towel and started to wipe her hands as she leaned against the sink, watching him. Behind her the water started to drain. His next words made her shake her head and rehang the towel before she moved toward him.

“You know Kraft, for a man who's from the future your education is surely lacking.”

She got down on her knees beside him.

“Okay. Look. Let’s start here. This log? Too big. We need to put some of these in there first.”

She reached into a small box on the left side of the fireplace and took out smaller pieces. At least her father had left them some.

“You see, we start the foundation of the fire like this.”

She stacked the small pieces inside the fireplace and reached for some old newspapers lying next to the box and took a piece of it to shove under the kindling.

“Then we add the paper to set fire to so the kindling will catch.”


Sam took up a fireplace lighter, pushing the black button forward while she pulled the trigger. A flame came from the end of it and she carefully lowered it to the paper under the wood, waiting for the paper to catch on fire.

“Just like that.”

She removed the lighter, setting it aside. Sam fed the fire a couple more pieces of paper. Once the fire was well and truly going, she added a log to the top.

“There we go.”

She sat down on the floor slightly to one side of him and glanced his way.

“It’s sad, Bennett. The future, that is. I’m glad I’m not around to see it. Real food is a scarcity. Something only the very rich can afford and I don’t even want to contemplate how they got so damn rich. Trees are an endangered species. What have we done to our future? What sort of legacy did we leave you that you all missed this? The things we enjoy now. Here I thought we were really making some progress in social thinking. Here I thought we were saving our resources for future generations to enjoy. Look where it got us. Makes me wonder what else we’ve lost and mostly, have we lost ourselves?”

Sam had been studying the fire, but she turned her head to regard the man beside her. She couldn’t believe she was actually starting to believe him, that he was from the future. She had to. The things he told her or even Henney for that matter, could be put down as words from insanity but how did she explain that damn flashlight of his? She had seen what it could do. It may look like a flashlight, but it was anything but. Technology in her time was good, but not that good. Yet. What other explanation could there be? Sam was beginning to feel like she had entered a sitcom on the Sci-Fi channel. Someone was going to jump out at any moment and yell “Cut.” Yeeeah. No. Henney was not a figment of her imagination. Nor was he some actor playing a part. Remembering what he had done to her, made a cold chill slither down her spine. There had been no doubt in her mind that if Bennett had not shown up right then, Henney would have used her, then killed her and enjoyed doing it. What disturbed her more was the fact that she wouldn’t have been his first.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

He looked up to her, "I may need help setting these on fire, Sam. I never have, and its not something I want to mess up through trial and error."

“You know Kraft, for a man whose from the future your education is surely lacking.” Sam sighed walking over to him.

He shrugged, "Well, in a time where it was illegal to burn wood fireplaces like this one went a bit out of fashion."

She proceeded to show him the fine points of making a fire. Apparently the log he had chosen was too large, and they needed to find smaller peices to put in first. Then within moments she taught him the fundamentals of how to build a fire. When they were finished the fire was crackling casting a throbbing light and warmth over the whole interior of the cabin.

Sam sat down saying, “It’s sad, Bennett. The future, that is. I’m glad I’m not around to see it. Real food is a scarcity. Something only the very rich can afford and I don’t even want to contemplate how they got so damn rich. Trees are an endangered species. What have we done to our future? What sort of legacy did we leave you that you all missed this? The things we enjoy now. Here I thought we were really making some progress in social thinking. Here I thought we were saving our resources for future generations to enjoy. Look where it got us. Makes me wonder what else we’ve lost and mostly, have we lost ourselves?”

He shrugged sitting beside her on the couch. "Legacy, sam. This was an era of great first steps into previously unknown areas. The first datanet was created in this time, the first man to land on Mars, making space colonization a commercial and practical prospect-the bulk of our population lives in the colonies who could trace their founding to plans drawn up in this century, In fifty years deaths from cancer and several diseases will become a distant memory, and all of it traced back to the determination and ingenuity of your generation." He reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Don't take what I tell you about the future so negatively Sam. Like the state of the world in your time here. Yes, we have problems we're struggling to overcome but its not really as grim as it sounds. We were working on building enough agricultural colonies in space to produce food when I left, they had hoped it would end our dependence on synthetics as well as equalize the economic classes. Beyond that our justice system is the best in humanity's history the entire criminal population of the world and our colonies in the solar system could be housed in one facility, Sam. Do you understand the accomplishment that is in a society with still under an economically stratified system."

Outside the snow was beginning to cover the ground. He looked at the top of the coffee table there was an antique deck of cards. Bennett picked them up. "Tell me Sam, did you have poker in this time," He asked, "It's a game we played in the twenty-fourth century, though over the datanet instead of these actual cards." He pulled them out of the box. "Its a good way for us to spend some time tonight."

 

[DarkWarrioress]

It was hard to not take negatively what he relayed about the future. They had the benefit of technology that only the future could bring, coupled with the knowledge of what had been. Her thoughts were solely focused on the many generations after her own light had extinguished. What had each generation that came into their own done to preserve the Earth’s resources? Apparently not much if things were the way Bennett spoke of.

She found his hand on her shoulder comforting. His words made sense. She had no way of knowing what challenges each generation had to cope with before it came to his. Much of it sounded good. Steps in a positive direction. The evolution of mankind was a painful process she knew as she thought back over the past generations until hers. The future was no different, except, perhaps, harder given their legacy and what they were forced to work with.

"Tell me Sam, did you have poker in this time?”

His question brought her out of her thoughts and made her smile.

“We do that here too. One can play poker over the internet. Millions of people gamble online. In fact, it’s become a big business. The sites that host such things online are beyond law enforcement here in this country. International waters, making them untouchable unfortunately. “

Her eyes fell on the deck of cards he held in his hand and grinned. Her head canted slightly as she regarded him with a teasing glint in her eyes.

“Sounds like fun. I hope you’re good at it,” she glanced at the fireplace, “give me a minute to throw another log on the fire and then you can deal the cards.”

Samantha got up from the couch and walked over the small pile of wood on the hearth, choosing a piece to carefully stack on the flames. Next, she made a beeline for the kitchen, rummaging around in the drawers there.

“Ah-ha! I knew there had to be some of these around.”

Sam came back with a small rectangular box in her hand and resumed sitting next to him, setting the box on the coffee table and slid it open, pouring half the contents on the table. Match sticks. She started separating them into two equal piles, scooting half of them towards his side of the table, turning her head to smile.


“Here. We can use these match sticks to bet with. So, what’s the game, Kraft?”

She didn’t have a clue if he was any good at this. She just knew she had been playing penny ante poker every Thanksgiving at her grandparents house since she was deemed old enough to play. Sam used to save up her pennies after that in a mason jar for the following Thanksgiving poker game. She missed those times. Her grandparents lived in a senior citizens home now. They did a round robin during the holidays with each of their children. No one seemed to have the heart to gather the whole family in one place anymore. Too big of a family, not enough space was always the reasoning. Still, they had been good times while they had lasted and Sam remembered them with smiles.

 

[Veroe]

IC Bennett Kraft

Outside the snow was beginning to cover the ground. He looked at the top of the coffee table there was an antique deck of cards. Bennett picked them up. "Tell me Sam, did you have poker in this time," He asked, "It's a game we played in the twenty-fourth century, though over the datanet instead of these actual cards." He pulled them out of the box. "Its a good way for us to spend some time tonight."

That brought her out of her introspective mindset. Sam turned to look at him. “We do that here too. One can play poker over the internet. Millions of people gamble online. In fact, it’s become a big business. The sites that host such things online are beyond law enforcement here in this country. International waters, making them untouchable unfortunately. “

He nodded, "In the future its solely done over the datanets. No one has played a game with these antiques in over a hundred or so years." He ran a thumb over the four of hearts card enjoying the novel tactile sensation.

“Sounds like fun. I hope you’re good at it,” she glanced at the fireplace, “give me a minute to throw another log on the fire and then you can deal the cards.”

"Sure," He nodded handling each card, careful not to break or bend them, until they each had seventeen cards. When she returned to the coffee table, he lifted half his hand to look over, "Port Armstrong rules, Sam. Jokers and Eights are wild, All numbered Heart cards are positive and numbered Club cards are negative." He raised the half of his hand up so she could see them. "Half in the light." He tapped the nine cards face down on the table before him. "And Half in the dark." Then he flipped one over sat the three of Diamonds stared at them face up and slid over to one side. "And one in the open."

Seeing her reaction made him stop. "There's no moon colony yet, is there? So no casinos either? And no port armstrong rules yet? He put his hand back down on the table. "Let's try your way."

He lifted one of the, what did she call them, match-sticks up in his fingers. Why did it have such bulging red end to it when the other was so slender? There was no monatery notations on it. "We use poker chips to bet with, well digital ones, but not these. How do they work?"

After she explained and he was looking over his hand-he could get a four of a kind if he could collect the Jack of Hearts. Bennett asked her, "We can't stay up here forever. My mission is too important. What do you think our next move should be, Sam?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Bennett dealt out the cards. She watched him carefully.

"Port Armstrong rules, Sam. Jokers and Eights are wild, All numbered Heart cards are positive and numbered Club cards are negative." He raised the half of his hand up so she could see them. "Half in the light." He tapped the nine cards face down on the table before him. "And Half in the dark." Then he flipped one over sat the three of Diamonds stared at them face up and slid over to one side. "And one in the open."

She stared at him like he had grown horns and turned green. Bewilderment filled her eyes.

"There's no moon colony yet, is there? So no casinos either? And no port armstrong rules yet? He put his hand back down on the table. "Let's try your way."

“Uh… no.”

She chuckled.

He lifted one of the, what did she call them, match-sticks up in his fingers. Why did it have such bulging red end to it when the other was so slender? There was no monatery notations on it. "We use poker chips to bet with, well digital ones, but not these. How do they work?"

Her hand shot out to cover his.

“Careful there, Bennett. These are matches. We use them here to start fire with when we don’t have a lighter handy. My parents never got around to using poker chips so we always just used match sticks. See this red end, right here?”

She carefully uncovered his hand and very lightly scraped her fingernail across the red tip.

“We strike this end against something rough, usually the side of the match box has a place to do so, and this end ignites in fire. Some people can actually use their fingers to do it, but I never could do that.”

Sam reached for her cards, fanning them toward herself, studying them.

"We can't stay up here forever. My mission is too important. What do you think our next move should be, Sam?"

Her cards were folded again. Stacked one on top of the other as she contemplated her companion and pondered his question.

“I understand your mission, Bennett. Let me ask you a question. What makes you think you can carry out your end of things? You had every opportunity to do away with Henney but you couldn’t do it. But what other option do you have? You can’t even access, what was it you called it? Hex. Without it, how are you planning to contain Henney? Or was the plan to kill them as you found them, all along? Because if that’s the case, from what I have already witnessed, and no offense to you Bennett, they sent the wrong man to do the job.”

Samantha wasn’t by nature a cruel person. Pragmatic? Always. Sometimes to the point of being roughly blunt and seemingly disrespectful and cruel. Where Bennett was concerned, she couldn’t blame him for not killing Henney when he had the chance. The man was unconscious. It’s one thing to kill a man when he could defend himself, another to kill a man when he couldn’t. The only other way there was to contain the insane man was to keep dosing him with that special flashlight but how long could they keep doing that? It was bound to run out of energy at some point. Thought the idea of having Henney tied in a chair and shooting that thing at him did give her a pleasant feeling.

“I think I need to drag out my laptop and access Henney’s official website and see what he’s doing now. I want to see if there are any new press releases on the site. I’m sure he’s not letting this little incident with us stop him from his campaign. If we can find out what he’s doing next and where, that’s where we need to be. My only concern is if he has some sort of bug hidden in the coding of his website to track people.

Listen to me, will you? I’m starting to sound paranoid or like a conspiracy theorist, but there’s so much I don’t know about the future. I have no idea what you all are capable of. So, what are you thinking, Bennett?”

She fanned her cards again, studying them before discarding two and waited for him to deal two back to her.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

After she explained and he was looking over his hand-he could get a four of a kind if he could collect the Jack of Hearts. Bennett asked her, "We can't stay up here forever. My mission is too important. What do you think our next move should be, Sam?"

Sam stopped and looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before answering him, “I understand your mission, Bennett."

"Then you know how important it is," He replied.

But she continued, "Let me ask you a question. What makes you think you can carry out your end of things? You had every opportunity to do away with Henney but you couldn’t do it."

Bennett looked down at his cards his lips a thin line.

"But what other option do you have? You can’t even access, what was it you called it? Hex. Without it, how are you planning to contain Henney," She went on.

"The plan at first was for me to use Hex and shut down his mind, Make him live out the rest of his natural life in vegetative state here in the past, but the chances of that being successful was only a 1 out of 10 chance to begin with. Now with Hex offline that's not even an option." He explained.

"Or was the plan to kill them as you found them, all along? Because if that’s the case, from what I have already witnessed, and no offense to you Bennett, they sent the wrong man to do the job.” She went on.

"I knew going in that the only real way to limit the damage to the timeline was to kill the fugitives and incinerate their bodies," He told her cradling his forehead in his hand, "I did not count on being unable to do it when it came to it. Everything was counting on me killing him and I just couldn't do it."

“I think I need to drag out my laptop and access Henney’s official website and see what he’s doing now. I want to see if there are any new press releases on the site. I’m sure he’s not letting this little incident with us stop him from his campaign." She suggested, "If we can find out what he’s doing next and where, that’s where we need to be. My only concern is if he has some sort of bug hidden in the coding of his website to track people."

"That's possible, but more likely he'll have his implant flag your computer the instant it accesses the datanet and use it to locate us," He frowned, "I'd suggest using someone else's computer for that, Sam."

She paused before adding, "Listen to me, will you? I’m starting to sound paranoid or like a conspiracy theorist, but there’s so much I don’t know about the future. I have no idea what you all are capable of. So, what are you thinking, Bennett?”

When she discarded two cards from her hand he reached for the deck to draw two for her but his hand froze over it. "I think I have to kill him. I will have to kill them all, despite how I feel about it." He looked out the window. The snow was fogging up the windows but he could see a growing carpet of white on her vehicle. "Have you...have you ever had to...have you ever taken someone else's life, Sam?" He turned back to her and handed her the two cards she needed. He looked into her eyes asking, "Does it get easier?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"Have you...have you ever had to...have you ever taken someone else's life, Sam?" He turned back to her and handed her the two cards she needed. He looked into her eyes asking, "Does it get easier?"

His words rang in her ears and she was momentarily still as they sunk in. The two cards he had put face down in front of her went unattended. The other three in her hand were set on top of them. Sam turned her whole body toward him, not just her face. Her hand came out and rested on his thigh as she shook her head slightly.

“I’ve shot a few people in my time on the force and sadly, I’ve killed a couple of men too. It never gets easier, Bennett.”

Sam hadn’t questioned him to be a bitch. She wanted to know truthfully where his head was at. She knew the people he worked for wouldn’t have sent him on this mission unless they felt he could do the job and that meant killing someone if need be but Bennett was from a different time era than she was. He had grown up differently than she had. The world she lived in probably seemed crude to him.

She remembered the first time she had shot a man. Her stomach had rolled and heaved but it was nothing compared to the feeling that washed through her the first time she had realized she had shot and killed another human being. It hadn’t mattered that the suspect was a bad man; that he was going to kill her partner. To this day, that day was seared into her memories. Without forethought, solely on instinct, Sam had drawn her gun, shot and killed their suspect to save her partner’s life. The latter did little to sate her conscience, however. No person should have the ability to take another’s life, but that was the way life was. There were bad people in this world, intent on doing serious harm. All of them driven by something, sometimes, only they understood what.

She scooted closer to Bennett, until their thighs touched.

“You’ll do what you have to do when the time comes. I realize this time you balked, but with good reason. While it’s never easy to kill a man, even one such as Henney, it’s harder still to kill a defenseless, unconscious one. It just isn’t done. Don’t be so hard on yourself for doing the right thing, Bennett. There will be another opportunity. Men like Henney are always tripped up. By their ego or some other means, they always fall. Sooner or later. Let’s just hope that in this case, it’s sooner rather than later.”

 

[Veroe]

IC: Bennett Kraft

"Have you...have you ever had to...have you ever taken someone else's life, Sam?" He turned back to her and handed her the two cards she needed. He looked into her eyes asking, "Does it get easier?"

She froze for a moment before turning to face him. Sam's hand rested consolingly on his thigh. “I’ve shot a few people in my time on the force," she told him with a shake of her head, "And sadly I’ve killed a couple of men too. It never gets easier, Bennett.”

At her words he lowered his head and nodded in resignation of the truth she told him. He would have to kill Henney, kill them all, and it would never-should never-get any easier. But he had already had a chance, and he had failed utterly.

She scooted closer and her thigh touched his. "You’ll do what you have to do when the time comes," Sam continued, "I realize this time you balked, but with good reason."

"What," He asked, "What possible reason could be good enough to place everything and everyone in such danger?"

"While it’s never easy to kill a man, even one such as Henney, it’s harder still to kill a defenseless, unconscious one," She replied, "It just isn’t done. Don’t be so hard on yourself for doing the right thing, Bennett."

He turned to look her in the eye, "But I failed to-"

"There will be another opportunity," She told him, "Men like Henney are always tripped up. By their ego or some other means, they always fall. Sooner or later. Let’s just hope that in this case, it’s sooner rather than later.”

His hand reached the one she had on his thigh, and gave it a gentle squeeze saying, "Thank you."

He cleared his throat and let go of her hand. With a gesture towards the cards on the coffee table he said, "Lets...uh...let's get back to the game. I believe its your turn, Sam."